[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 32 (Friday, March 12, 2004)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2768-S2769]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        NOMINATION OF NEIL WAKE

  Mr. KYL. Mr. President, I support the nomination of Neil Wake to the 
Federal District Court for the District of Arizona.

[[Page S2769]]

  Neil Wake is an Arizona native and has practiced law for 29 years in 
Phoenix as a partner in several law firms and most recently as the sole 
proprietor of his own firm. Mr. Wake received a bachelor's degree with 
honors from Arizona State University in 1971 and a law degree, cum 
laude, from Harvard University, in 1974, where he was a member of the 
Harvard Civil Liberties Law Review.
  His law practice has focused almost entirely on civil litigation. He 
has handled a wide range of business litigation, administrative and 
public law litigation, and constitutional litigation under the federal 
and state constitutions. He has practiced extensively in both state and 
federal courts, in trial courts and appellate courts, including the 
Supreme Court of the United States.
  Mr. Wake has spoken often at continuing legal education programs on 
civil procedure, administrative law and judicial review of government 
action, appellate practice and procedure, and other subjects. He has 
published articles in the fields of administrative law and appellate 
procedure.
  Mr. Wake has received high recognition from his peers at the bar. 
Since 1989 he has been listed in The Best Lawyers in America for 
business and appellate litigation upon recommendation of other lawyers 
so listed. Less than 1 percent of attorneys are so recognized. Since 
1993 he has been a Fellow of the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers, 
a professional society of fewer than 300 members nationwide who are 
admitted by invitation only and after careful investigation. The 
American Bar Association's standing committee on Federal Judiciary 
unanimously gave Mr. Wake its highest evaluation of well qualified for 
appointment as a Judge of the United States District Court.
  He has given many years of service to the bar, to the courts, and to 
the community. He has served for nearly 20 years on the Arizona State 
Bar's Committee on Civil Practice and Procedure and for over 20 years 
on the State Bar's Appellate Handbook Committee. He is a founding 
member of the State Bar's Indian Law Section and its Appellate Practice 
Section, of which he is now the Chairman. He has served five times as a 
judge pro tempore of the Arizona Court of Appeals and is a Member of 
the National Board of Visitors of The University of Arizona College of 
Law. He and his wife Shari and other parents founded ICU Care Parents, 
a support group for parents of critically ill newborns.
  Mr. Wake and his wife Shari are the parents of three sons, ages 21, 
18, and 10.
  Neil Wake will be an outstanding addition to the bench.

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